What is open politics?

The mission of open politics is to support civic engagement and the open exchange of ideas via the internet. This site is designed to make it easier to learn, deliberate and decide complex issues in public policy. Specifically , openpolitics.ca uses wiki software so that:

anyone can participate

people participate as equals

all actions are transparent

all contributions are recorded

deliberation is rewarded and rhetoric discouraged

multiple points of view are conveyed quickly and fairly

issues and positions are "living documents" that can reflect what the community thinks today

Open Politics as a better use of citizen's time:

unlike discussion boards or blogs it is not a process of endless back and forth arguing that never resolves into agreement.

wiki pages encourage brevity, deliberation and consensus building,

unlike sending emails or letters there is permanence to what you contribute

every contribution you make will always be on the current version of a page or in the page history for all to see - just look up "http://openpolitics.ca/your+issue"

unlike newspaper and magazines who you are matters less than what you have to say.

open politics is organized as a meritocracy? - every contribution is weighed by other editors on its merit.

unlike political debates that are full of partisan rhetoric and bickering, open politics discourages overtly partisan behavior.

in most venues, partisan rhetoric is hard to avoid and usually overwhelms reasonable deliberation. Our technology, IPA system, guidelines and best practices work together in a virtuous circle? to weed out rhetoric and nonsense.

unlike political parties anyone can be a leader, and be influential? it doesn't require money, titles, or followers to present a good idea or weed out bad ones.

Open Politics creates a path to a different kind of politics

Traditional methods of doing politics inevitably leads to polarization, exclusion, apathy, corruption and waste. This is an inherent by-product of a system we can analyse as politics as usual.

Open Politics provides an evolutionary path to a better form of politics by helping and encouraging our current politicians to step back from the old school methods and rewarding those who serve the public interest. Open Politics enables a real time history? of public figures and current events - a new world of transparency where good deeds can be rewarded.

who is behind open politics?

Open politics was initiated in March 2005, to develop wiki technology for public policy applications.